Strumigenys Ayersthey is the scientific name for a new species of miniature trap-jaw ant that has been discovered in the tropical forests of Ecuador by entomologists at the Yale Center for Biodiversity and Global Change, the Georgia Museum of Natural History, and the Darmstadt Technical University.
The insect was first found by Philipp Hoenle of the Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany, during a cooperative investigation of the Rio Canandé Reserve in 2018. The reserve belongs to the NGO Jocotoco and preserves a small part of the highly biodiversity hotspots. threatened called the Chocó.
The new insect has been named Strumigenys yesterdaysthey in honor of activist and artist Jeremy Ayers, who died in 2016. The ant is truly unique among its genus, which has more than 850 species, and to celebrate its uniqueness, its discoverers decided to honor Ayers and "celebrate both biology" and human diversity "by making it possibly the only species in the world with a scientific name suffixed with" they. "
“Small changes in the language have had a great impact on the culture. The language is dynamic and so should the change in the naming of species, a basic language of science ", explain the experts.
Reference: DB Booher & PO Hoenle. 2021. A new species group of Strumigenys (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) from Ecuador, with a description of its mandible morphology. ZooKeys 1036: 1-19; doi: 10.3897 / zookeys.1036.62034
